What mini-bosses do you love sending at the players?

[Doug McCrae]

I like casters. Problem with barbarians is you have to do two sets of stats.

 

[frankthedm]

Barbarian, especially at lower levels, because one hit can end it all.

And the class stacks so well with monster HD. Or should that be Hit=Die

 

[Seeker95]

I chose sorcerer. It would be an elf sorcerer. He would carry a longsword and a shortbow. He would dress in the colors of the forest. He would carry an instrument. He would even wear light armor. That he is a sorcerer would not be readily apparent.

 

[Ferrum]

we're talking about the mini-boss you throw at them to wreak havoc for a few sessions before they finally track him down and kill him.

Based on that, I'd have to say Monk. Barbarians are great for one fight, they'll be a real problem, but I don't see barbarians running away to come back and harass again.

A monk on the other hand, hard to hit, even with touch attacks, mobility to separate the party, stuns to take out the casters, and saves that make you wonder why you even tried casting a spell at them to begin with. Then, when they start to lose ground, they run away. Good luck catching them.

 

[shilsen]

Another vote for barbarian. Quicka nd easy to stat, takes damage well, hands out damage even better, no spells to track - what's not to love?

 

[carborundum]

After the carnage inflicted on my party in Red Hand of Doom, it's going to be a monk mini-boss for me ASAP! Freaky weapons, trips, saves, deflect arrows ... hilarious!

 

[Dykstrav]

Usually (and by "usually," I mean about once per campaign) I send a barbarian after the PCs when they're getting smarmy, overconfident, or even just whiny because of their magic items.

A barbarian with an adamantine two-handed weapon, Power Attack, and Improved Sunder (that retreats after destroying a weapon or two instead of fighting to the death) usually sends the message that characters shouldn't rely on their gear to replace their brains. Give this guy a small pack of troublemakers to tie them up during these raids (kobolds, gnolls, whatever) and you've suddenly given the characters a threat orders of magnitude greater than the CR would indicate.

When the players start complaining about how you're targeting their favorite items, you can gently remind them that an intelligent enemy would use tactics like this: if you were scrying the characters, after all, wouldn't you want to give your minions every chance at victory by whittling away the most powerful resources?

 

[mmu1]

I use a lot of enemy NPCs (as opposed to monsters) anyway, so designing specific "mini-bosses" is sort of redundant...

If I had to choose, though, I'd probably go with Fighters - usually with some interesting feat combo that makes it fun/frustrating for the PCs, though casters of all kinds come in a close second. (I actually usually use NPCs like this to showcase some tactical / spellcasting point I'd like the players to get without having to actually go and say "look, this is the difference feat selection / spell selection make")

If I actually wanted to frustrate my players - I don't, at least not to that degree, so I have no intention of ever using it - a Warlock with Flee the Scene is absolutely, utterly ridiculous. We had to fight one in a game I play in (5th level party) and while a character like that is not impossible to catch and kill - a lucky grapple, or a Hold Person could ruin his day - he's still, if played properly (meaning with some support from mooks and lesser NPCs) just absurdly slippery and hard to pin down. (we failed to do so, but slaughtered his companions and eventually made him run)

 

[the Jester]

Should be multiple choice...

I use all kinds of villains; it just depends. I don't really plan for any given npc to be a recurring thorn in the side of the pcs, it just develops that way.

 

[Doug McCrae]

When the players start complaining about how you're targeting their favorite items, you can gently remind them that an intelligent enemy would use tactics like this

No he wouldn't. In 3e, money is everything. You don't destroy your number one resource. You kill opponents and take their gear, not kill the gear and leave the opponents alive. After all that's what the PCs do, and with good reason.